HDC proposes Halal Act to better regulate industry

21 November, 2007

Kuala Lumpur: The Halal Industry Development Corporation Sdn Bhd (HDC) Tuesday called on the government to introduce a Halal Act that will better regulate the halal industry and ensure activities are carried out properly.

Its chief executive officer Datuk Jamil Bidin said working together with several law firms, HDC expects to complete a draft on the proposed Act by early next year before submitting it to the Government.

“No matter how good the halal industry is, but if people start messing around (abusing the halal certificate and logo), it is Malaysia’s image that will be tarnished,” he told rpeorters after the opening of the Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum 2007 here.

Jamil said the process of drawing up an Act was long and tedious and once the draft was submitted, there was a need to wait for feedback from the Attorney-General’s Office.

“When you have an Act, you need to know who will be doing the enforcement and how it will be placed under a specific ministry. These are the issues that we need to address and it is a long process,” he said.

On another development, Jamil said HDC expects to finalise its Halal Industry Master Plan draft early next month before submitting it to the government for approval.

“This master plan is important as it will show the direction of the country’s halal industry which involves many components, including capacity building, branding and promotion and regulatory framework,” he said.

HDC was also carrying out awareness campaign to attract more halal players in developing the industry, Jamil said.

“If you don’t have an awareness programme, understanding of halal and its opportunities will not be not very high and people will not appreciate the master plan as much,” he said.

On small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Jamil said those in the halal industry were ecouraged to consolidate in order to be more competitive in the global market.

He said though the halal industry here is huge, more than 90 percent is dominated by the SMEs, of which many are small players with no strong financial and marketing capability.

“We have proposed, for example, that SMEs consolidate and form cooperatives. At the end of the day, we would like to see bigger entities with a better footing in the global market and in a better position to talk to the banks,” he added.

Jamil urged Islamic financial institutions to champion the local halal industry players by offering more innovative financing products.

“The participation of Islamic financial institutions in the industry is still low, less than 15 percent. If you want the product to be truly halal, then there must be an element of Islamic financing,” he said.

According to Jamil, there were instances when financial institutions did not extend loans to small entrepreneurs to develop their thriving business due to their age or lack of collateral.

“The banks must be more innovative in proposing various loans, and not just simply be a (typical) money-lender. It is timely that we bring in Islamic financing as an enabler in our effort to develop the halal industry and make Malaysia a global halal hub,” he said. – Bernama

Source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/
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